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Recuperative holidays—Recuperative holidays are provided for persons recovering from
mental illness. During 1961, 143 persons were given holidays for two to three weeks in
recuperative holiday homes compared with 128 in 1960.
Training for mentally subnormal and severely subnormal persons
Proposals for future development—In 1960, when the Council submitted to the Ministry
of Health its proposals for the development of the mental health services, 21 centres
were provided for the training of mentally subnormal and severely subnormal persons,
with places for 700 children of school age, 295 for older girls and women, and 275 for
youths and men—a total of 1,270 places. Of the nine junior training centres, two were
purpose-built, four were in adapted premises and the remaining three were accommodated
in church halls. Only three of the twelve adult centres were in buildings owned or leased
exclusively by the Council.
The proposals envisaged the following future developments in the training services for
these categories of mentally disordered persons:
(i) replacement of centres in church halls and other unsuitable premises by purposebuilt
centres or by premises specially adapted for the purpose and the provision of
additional centres to cater for the increasing demand from both children and adults;
(ii) provision of special care units for children who require extra attention because
of physical handicap or other difficulty;
(hi) reduction in the general admission age of children to training centres from five
to three years;
(iv) provision of some form of holiday minding service or the opening of centres for
longer periods, to afford additional relief for parents of children attending the centres;
(v) introduction of sheltered industrial work for both men and women attending
adult training centres; the expansion of industrial training centres; and the introduction
of a system of payments for work done;
(vi) provision of a part-time service at adult training centres, or otherwise, for older
handicapped persons who are unable, unwilling, or unsuitable to attend a full-time
training centre; and
(vii) an increase in the number of home teachers and the frequency of their visits.
Premises—Developments towards the replacement of unsatisfactory training centre
premises and the provision of additional places, which have already taken place since
the Council's proposals were formulated, include the opening in Hackney of a third
purpose-built junior centre with places for 120 children; the opening in Wandsworth of a
second industrial training centre with 100 places, including workshop accommodation for
40 trainees; the opening of an additional adult centre in Islington with 40 places for older
girls and women; and the replacement of an adult training centre for females in specially
adapted premises in Hammersmith. As a result of these changes it was possible to discontinue
the use of three unsatisfactory church halls for training centre purposes and at
the end of 1961 the number of centres had been increased to 22 and the total number of
places available by 135 to 1,405.
The provision of new premises has been hampered to some extent by difficulties in
acquiring suitable sites, but at the end of 1961 the following projects were in hand—
(0 the adaptation of premises in Greenwich to provide an additional industrial
centre for 36 males;
(ii) the erection of two new junior centres, each with 112 places, in Greenwich and
Islington respectively;
(iii) the provision of a new building in Hackney to provide an industrial training
centre for 120 males;
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